The whole world, it seems, is abuzz with rumors that Iran has abolished their so-called morality police.
The morality police—“Gasht-e-ershad,” or “guidance patrols”—are a mobile police force established by Iran’s former hardline president, Ahmadinejad. They were tasked with roving the streets to make sure that Islamic dress codes, including the hijab, were being obeyed by the country’s women. Wearing the hijab was made mandatory in 1978 by Ayatollah Khomeini, after he returned from exile to lead a revolution that led to the creation of the Islamic State.
This is the same Khomeini who observed that “All those against the [Islamic] revolution must disappear and quickly be executed.”
Americans look at Iran with its morality police and dreadful religious dictatorship with distaste, as well we should. But how many Iran haters gladly accept the rise of similar dictatorial movements in the U.S.? I refer, of course, to the White nationalist-Christian cult that is symbolized and led by Donald Trump. But I also refer to the far-left progressive cult that is symbolized by cancel culture and its odious forms of repression, language revisionism, reverse racism, illiberal governance, intolerance, and shaming of those it opposes.
We certainly have our morality police here in Oakland, and we all know who they are. Constantly lecturing us on our inadequacies and hidden racism, they profess to be morally superior to everyone else. They alone have the answer to all of society’s problems. It’s their way or the highway; and now that they’ve seized more power in Oakland than ever before, they’re threatening to impose a—yes, morality police state on us. We can expect yet more attacks on the actual police, more coddling of criminals, higher taxes to fund their dubious schemes, more racial quotas, more complaints about how “offended” they are, more demands that opposing voices be silenced.
The people of Iran, possessed of an ancient and noble history, finally are rising up against this insidious movement in their midst, rioting in the streets and compelling their religious-fascist government to back down. Can we, in Oakland, do the same? From our recent history, including the last election, the answer, sadly, is no. It would be wonderful to see large crowds outside City Hall, regularly protesting the way successive progressive governments have plunged our city into ignominious failure. But Oaklanders by and large have not had the courage or the insight to take that step. Instead, through lethargy, they don’t vote, or else they fall prey to the prevarications of the far left and react by voting for whomever union money tells them to. It’s a tragedy that Oaklanders would not permit such fine candidates as Loren Taylor and Harold Lowe to hold elected office.
But the simple fact is that we haven’t yet reached the tipping point. I continue to expect we will: as Oakland increasingly gets out of control, maybe even the most hard-headed progressives will realize the mistake they’ve made. But, as we’ve seen with Trump supporters, it’s next to impossible to get these people to admit they were wrong.
Both sides—the MAGA crowd and the progressives—are destroying us. Another thing the Ayatollah said is pertinent: “I say let this land [Iran] go up in smoke, provided Islam emerges triumphant….” Our morality police say: “Let Oakland be destroyed, provided that progressivism emerges triumphant. And let all those who oppose us quickly disappear.”
Steve Heimoff